


The Things I'd Do

by magicianlogician12



Series: Heart of Steel [5]
Category: Fallout 4
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-23
Updated: 2016-04-23
Packaged: 2018-06-03 22:41:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6629920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/magicianlogician12/pseuds/magicianlogician12
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>One year after first entering Cambridge Police Station, Tabi has a surprise for Haylen.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Things I'd Do

Haylen sat hunched at a desk in the police station, waiting for Tabi to return from the ruins of C.I.T. with more salvage to repair the suits of the knights now stationed there. It was an inglorious task, and often met with much grumbling from those assigned to it, but Haylen was thankful, for once, for Tabi’s absence. It gave her time to prepare and plan in peace.

It was a special day, after all, even if Tabi hadn’t remembered it. Today, it had been a year since Tabi had first stumbled into their police station wearing a drifter’s discarded clothes and carrying a rusted pipe pistol. Today, it had been a year since they’d first met.

Not quite an anniversary, but there were so few occasions worth celebrating in the Commonwealth. Haylen was determined to make this one of them.

Clunking and a muted hydraulic hiss alerted her to the arrival of someone in power armor, and Haylen craned her neck to identify who it was. Tabi’s voice emerged before the paladin herself did. “Haylen, can you come out here? There’s something you need to see.”

Perplexed, Haylen got to her feet and poked her head around the door frame. Tabi stood, holding her helmet in both hands. Her face brightened when she saw Haylen peering around the corner. “Good, you’re already down here.”

“What is it?” Haylen asked.

Tabi jerked her head. “Come with me and find out.”

Haylen blinked, but shrugged, and followed Tabi out of the station. They made a quick stop by the power armor rack, where Tabi stepped out of her suit, then she looped one of her arms through Haylen’s and led the way.

“Where are we going?” Haylen asked when they’d walked several meters down the road. “And why go there without your suit?”

“Because it’s perfectly safe, and I didn’t want to wear it right now.” Tabi shrugged slightly. “I practically live in that suit.”

It didn’t escape Haylen’s notice that Tabi hadn’t answered her first question, but she let it slide for now–she clearly had something up her sleeve and Haylen would be lying if she said she wasn’t more than a little curious.

After a relatively short walk, they arrived at a high-rise building somehow still mostly intact, and Tabi looked down at Haylen. “Unfortunately, the elevator’s out here. We’ll have to walk…or I can carry you.” a smile pulled at the corner of Tabi’s mouth. “It’ll be a _lot_ of steps, after all.”

Haylen arched one brow. “Are you ever going to tell me what you’re up to?”

“No, because that takes the fun out of it.” Tabi knelt down for Haylen to climb on. “Come _on_ , I know you’re curious.”

Relenting, Haylen wrapped her arms around Tabi’s neck and jumped; Tabi caught her legs and they began the climb. Tabi hadn’t been wrong, or even exaggerating–there really were a lot of steps. She never once complained, though, and made no comment except to joke about the seemingly infinite number of floors in the building.

At last, Tabi leaned back slightly–the signal for Haylen to hop off–when they reached a door, which Tabi pushed open, but blocked the view. “Close your eyes.” she instructed, offering both her hands for Haylen to hold. “Promise I won’t lead you over anything that’ll trip you.”

Haylen narrowed her eyes a fraction but did as Tabi instructed, closing her eyes and placing her hands in Tabi’s long, thin fingers. Her skin was cool and lightly calloused, but the touch was gentle, and Haylen sighed.

Tabi led Haylen for several more steps and let go of her hands, putting one arm around Haylen’s shoulders instead. “All right, open your eyes.”

Haylen blinked her eyes open, and she saw the world.

The Commonwealth was laid out before them far below, with some lights around the dilapidated city still on and blinking like distant candles. In the distance, through a light layer of fog, Haylen saw the outline of the Prydwen, but even that seemed to be below the height of this building.

“I know the view from a vertibird’s pretty nice,” Tabi commented after a few moments, letting Haylen take in the scenery, “but you never really have the time to stop and enjoy it. Which, I realized recently, goes for a lot of things in the Commonwealth.” Tabi turned, and Haylen with her, to see a small table, with a slightly tattered tablecloth, a small candle–a _real_  candle–in the center, and a few plates of what seemed to be passable food. “So, just for once, I’m pulling us away to stop and enjoy something.”

Haylen was still speechless. She managed to ask, “…you did all this for _me_?”

Tabi pulled one of the chairs out, steadying it as she went–because chairs were rarely perfectly balanced anymore–with a wide, sincere grin. “Hay, I’d do _anything_  for you.”

Haylen felt a blush rising in her neck, but sat in the chair Tabi offered. “Lucky me, then.”


End file.
